ELZO DURT

This guy has great style and the right attitude for creating wonderful coloured pieces of art work that shout fuck you! May we present the magnificent Elzo Durt.

Wok: What is an Elzo? How was he built? What makes him work?

An Elzo is a very speedy dude, always working, careful about details and very demanding upon himself. I was born in 1980 and have quickly been into music thanks to my dad who’s a punk & rock & roll album collector. I have inherited this passion since I was very young. Inevitably, all these record covers and gig posters have marked me deeply, and from that point I developed a passion for graphic arts & quickly wanted to exploit all this imagery.

Wok: Introduce your design! How did your amazing style materialize?

I have studied graphic arts and my working method became quickly very clear. I collect all kinds of images that I find in old magazines, books, encyclopaedia, comics… I re-work those images that form the basis of my work. From that point, improvised compositions are born with themes that will vary according to my mood. Colour-wise, I’m pretty demanding and that’s why I enjoy silkscreen printing. This technique allows to have really good colours and also to have posters in limited series, unlike offset.

WOK: Where is inspiration coming from? And has Belgian culture, Music etc…inspired your work?

I’m inspired by nearly everything, but mostly by Belgian culture. My most important references are American comics, Russian constructivists, punks, Japonising aesthetics, pop art, art nouveau, art deco and mostly 60’s psychedelic art. A few years ago, I discovered ‘Le Dernier Cri’ which has opened my eyes to what today is called alternative or deviant art. This collective has really boosted my artistic methods, both conceptually and visually. This sensibility to so-called alternative art made me open up my own space in Brussels so I could promote it. The plin tub’ gallery ( www.plintub.be but the site is not updated! ). I have presented a dozen artists there during a one year period, mostly Belgians but also ‘Bon Goût’ who are from Berlin.